Microsoft October 2020 Patch Tuesday, Alexa IT Headache and new iPhones.

Microsoft October 2020 Patch Tuesday fixes 87 vulnerabilities

Fixes for 21 remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities included for products like Excel, Outlook, the Windows Graphics component, and the Windows TCP/IP stack.

Microsoft has released today its monthly batch of security updates known as Patch Tuesday, and this month the OS maker has patched 87 vulnerabilities across a wide range of Microsoft products.

 It's a monthly thing, sometimes no gain, only pain but with much of the U.S. and the world working remotely it is now more important to apply your OS updates than ever.  Hackers are concentrating their efforts on the RDP protocols.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-october-2020-patch-tuesday-fixes-87-vulnerabilities/?ftag=TRE-03-10aaa6b&bhid=2219791&mid=13109479&cid=716603217

Amazon's Alexa is driving IT managers crazy

"The danger is that these devices aren't typically secured by design," Grimm told me. "They can basically be like an open door or window to the network that an attacker uses as a means to get on the network and look for more valuable resources -- intellectual property, personal information, and more."

https://www.zdnet.com/article/amazons-alexa-is-driving-it-managers-crazy/

See also: Amazon's Alexa gets a new brain on Echo |  Alexa, why should I upgrade my Echo?  | Which Echo to buy? How to pick the best Alexa device for your needs | Why Amazon needs to stop selling us new Echos

Apple just announced the iPhone 12 lineup, and it's packed full of features and new capabilities, at a range of price points.

I've been telling Verizon and AT&T clients for over a year now, just because your phone displays 5G in he upper right corner, if you don't have a 5G phone you are operating at 4G.  Well 5G iPhones are finally here.

All four iPhone 12 models are capable of connecting to 5G networks. In the US, that means they include Sub6 and mmWave compatibility. The phones will have a Smart Data Mode that will decide whether or not a 5G connection is required for a task, and when it's not, it will use a 4G LTE connection instead. Doing so will save battery life. 

New iPhone models and dates of availability:

iPhone 12 Mini: Nov. 6 preorders, Nov 13 availability

iPhone 12: Oct 16 preorders, Oct. 23 availability 

iPhone 12 Pro: Oct. 16 preorders, Oct. 23 availability 

iPhone 12 Pro Max: Nov. 6 preorders, Nov 13 availability

https://www.zdnet.com/article/iphone-12-all-the-models-launch-date-pricing-and-specs/

This article (link) has me thinking about keeping my iPhone 7 a little longer.

iPhone 12 has 5G, but Apple still has us questioning why we need it

For now, the biggest reason to buy a 5G phone is FOMO -- and future-proofing.

https://www.cnet.com/news/iphone-12-has-5g-but-apple-still-has-us-questinoing-why-we-need-it/

Global Microsoft Outage, Apple Woes, Cybercrime, Nvidia RTX 30 series graphics cards.

Global Microsoft outage brings down Teams, Office 365 and Outlook

Microsoft says a recent update has affected the processing of authentication requests, making cloud-based services inaccessible.

Microsoft Blames Software ‘Code Issue’ For Office 365 Outage

“It’s amazing to me that a change in code could cause a platform as big as Azure to go down,” says a senior executive for one of Microsoft’s top partners, who did not want to be identified. “It sounds like someone wrote some code that was merged into a production environment and it broke authentication. That’s ridiculous. If you can’t get into email or documents for five hours it’s pretty bad.” CRN

The outage affected users between the hours of 5:25 pm EST to 10:25 pm EST.  I did not hear from a single user concerning any issues.  Fortunately for us the outage occurred after normal business hours and from what I read, users who had a session established were okay.  It was only those who tried to log in during that period of time who were affected.

Microsoft attributed the Azure service outage to a “recent configuration change impacted a backend storage layer, which caused latency to authentication requests.” CRN.

https://www.crn.com/news/cloud/microsoft-blames-software-code-issue-for-office-365-outage

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/sep/29/major-microsoft-outage-brings-down-office-365-outlook-and-teams?ref=hvper.com

https://www.bing.com/news/search?q=Office+365+Outage&qpvt=office+365+outage&FORM=NWRFSH

Apple News

Who'd have thought... Apple makes mistakes too.  Read the link below, 

iOS 14.0.1: The battery and connectivity woes continue

iOS 14.0.1 fixes some things. Breaks other things.

The bottom line is that we're into that messy period at the beginning of an iOS launch where there will be a lot of bugs and fixes and new bugs. I suspect iOS 14.0.2 is not that far away, and that it won't be long until iOS 14.1 is released, likely to be the iOS version that ships on the new iPhones.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ios-14-0-1-the-battery-and-connectivity-woes-continue/?ftag=TRE-03-10aaa6b&bhid=2219791&mid=13076371&cid=716603217

iPhone 12 64GB model incoming, says leaker, shipments start next week

A new report from serial Apple leaker Jon Prosser states the iPhone 12 will be getting a 64GB storage option, despite previous reports Apple was ditching the configuration.

https://www.imore.com/iphone-12-64gb-model-confirmed-shipments-start-next-week

Cyber Crime

Cyberattack hobbles major hospital chain's US facilities, staff forced to use paper records

https://www.foxbusiness.com/healthcare/cyberattack-hobbles-major-hospital-chains-us-facilities-staff-forced-to-use-paper-records

A computer outage at a major hospital chain thrust healthcare facilities across the U.S. into chaos Monday, with treatment impeded as doctors and nurses already burdened by the coronavirus pandemic were forced to rely on paper backup systems.

Universal Health Services Inc., which operates more than 250 hospitals and other clinical facilities in the U.S., blamed the outage on an unspecified IT “security issue” in a statement posted to its website Monday but provided no details about the incident, such as how many facilities were affected and whether patients had to be diverted to other hospitals.

Google removes 17 Android apps caught engaging in WAP billing fraud

The 17 apps were infected with the Joker (Bread) malware, which Google described in January 2020 as one of the most persistent threats it dealt with since 2017.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-removes-17-android-apps-doing-wap-billing-fraud-from-the-play-store/

The FBI's most wanted cybercriminals

https://www.zdnet.com/pictures/the-fbis-most-wanted-cyber-criminals/

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series Graphics Cards

Nvidia announced their new RTX 30 graphic cards on September 17th.  The GeForce RTX 3090 was released September 24th.  I was at the Marietta Micro Center store on the 23rd of September and saw this scene that I had to take a picture of;

I first thought it was the line to get in due to the Pandemic, (there usually is a line on weekends due to restrictions on the number of people allowed in at one time), but then I saw people going into the store bypassing the line.

Once inside I asked the lady what was going on, she replied "they are camping and waiting for the release of the Nvidia graphics card tomorrow."  WOW, not only are these people going to fork over $1500 for a video card but they can afford a whole day of their life devoted to this purpose, and they don't need to work, they have the money.  SMDH.

Read more about the new Nvidia cards and while at it, be sure to buy a DForce Gaming computer.

Thanks for reading!

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/introducing-rtx-30-series-graphics-cards/

DFORCE Gaming Rigs, Ultra-fast performance, Powerful and expandable!

A lot of Apple News from Yesterday, however still waiting on iPhone 12 and 5G. iPad Air 4 sounds great.

The Apple Watch and iPad launch event was typical Apple. Product upgrades that spur purchases, services to threaten multiple rivals and good price points across the portfolio.

The Apple event yesterday September 15th focused on the new Apple Watch 6, iPad Air and new service bundles including Apple TV, Apple Music and a new Fitness service to challenge Peloton's App.

Key fitness items include:

Blood oxygen measurements.

Background health metrics while you sleep.

Partnerships with academic institutions on studies.

Apple announced a new subscription model, Apple One that introduces various levels of service bundling which has already triggered responses from Spotify and other entertainment providers.

I have an Apple watch 3 and after reviewing details and what other reviewers are saying this a.m., I have no intention of upgrading my Apple Watch.  I'm waiting on the iPhone 12 with 5G.  

Yesterday's event was only a warm-up to spur sales prior to the iPhone 5G introduction which I'm sure will be available before Christmas.

I'm not going to lie though, I will purchase the new iPad Air 4 when available since I have kicked Comcast TV services out of my office and home.  I have a great IPTV service which runs on IOS.

Apple surprised iPhone users with a next-day iOS 14 release. App developers are pissed.

To read about all the product announcements from the Apple Event yesterday please click on the following link;

https://www.zdnet.com/article/everything-apple-announced-at-its-sept-15-event-apple-watch-series-6-se-apple-one-fitness-plus-and-ipad-ipad-air-lineup-updates/?ftag=TREc64629f&bhid=2219791&mid=13049704&cid=716603217

Apple Product reveal day is today, Windows Server severe bug patch, Emotet and Hackers on the rise.

 It's a big day in Tech world with the annual Apple new Device release event set for today.  Expect emphasis on new Apple watch 6 and iPad Air to take center stage.  But first let's deal with a huge security issue.

"Unbeknownst to many, last month Microsoft patched one of the most severe bugs ever reported to the company, an issue that could be abused to easily take over Windows Servers running as domain controllers in enterprise networks."

 If your organization runs Windows server there is an update that is imperative your IT support techs apply to your servers.  A flaw in the Netlogon authentication process allows an attacker to exploit the cryptographic algorithm used to verify identity of a computer on a domain network.

The update has been available since Patch Tuesday of August 2020, it is known as CVD-2020-1472 and if your server is behind in updates then you are vulnerable.  The flaw has received a severity rating of 10, the details are only coming out now more than a month after the update was released because the vulnerability was too dangerous to make public.

"But in a blog post today, the team at Secura B.V., a Dutch security firm, has finally lifted the veil from this mysterious bug and published a technical report describing CVE-2020-1472 in greater depth.

And per the report, the bug is truly worthy of its 10/10 CVSSv3 severity score."

For more info, please follow this link.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/zerologon-attack-lets-hackers-take-over-enterprise-networks/?ftag=TREc64629f&bhid=2219791&mid=13047656&cid=716603217

Apple Event.  Because of Covid-19, the 2020 Apple event will be held virtually at 10 a.m. PDT from Apple Park.  

You can add the event to your calendar and obtain a link to the event by going to;

https://www.apple.com/apple-events/

For insight into the new products and features, please visit the links below.

https://9to5mac.com/2020/09/14/apple-september-event-what-to-expect/

https://9to5mac.com/2020/09/14/heres-how-apples-fall-2020-ipad-ipad-air-and-iphone-12-features-will-compare/

COVID cybercrime: 10 disturbing statistics to keep you awake tonight

Not everyone has been sidelined by the Corona virus.  Hackers are out in force trying to steal your info/credentials and ultimately, finances.  9 out of 10 coronavirus related domains are scams and a half a million Zoom accounts have been compromised and are available on the Dark Web.

With so many new remote workers there has been a huge increase in desktop connections using RDP (remote desktop protocol) which has created a huge number of new targets for the bad guys.  The speed at which all these new connections have been created has led to mistakes in implementation and many remote devices are not secured.  This has led to a 400% increase in brute-force attacks.

In addition email scams related to Covid-19 were up 667% in March, 2020 alone.

The following is amazing to me but with so many people getting their news from social media, I guess I shouldn't be surprised;

In a test performed in late March, researchers found that users are three times more likely to click on a phishing link and then enter their credentials than they were pre-COVID. Of course, it doesn't hurt that those phishing emails often used words like "COVID" or "coronavirus, "masks", "test", "quarantine" and "vaccine."

Be careful;  for more details follow the link  below,

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ten-disturbing-coronavirus-related-cybercrime-statistics-to-keep-you-awake-tonight/?ftag=TRE-03-10aaa6b&bhid=27630927001468733386426006914379&mid=13046731&cid=1862926557